1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk reading device, and in particular, to an optical disk reading device that has two disk loading and ejection systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since a normal optical disk reading device (such as a disk drive) uses a replaceable optical disk as a data recording medium, it must have disk loading and disk ejection functions. The conventional disk loading and disk ejection methods include drag-plate type, suction type, and cover-lifting type, which are incompatible with each other and which have their own application fields.
The suction type optical disk drive has the easiest disk loading and disk ejection system for the user to operate, and the suction opening through which the disk is loaded or ejected can face any direction. Suction type optical disk drives are enjoyed by many users and are most commonly used in automobiles. However, the recent diversification of the external appearances of optical disks means that many optical disks are now provided with irregular external shapes. Unfortunately, optical disks with irregular external shapes cannot always be loaded or ejected using the suction type mechanism. This is the largest hindrance to the application of the suction type optical disk drive.
The cover-lifting optical disk drive has different characteristics from the suction type optical disk drive. For example, it is more complicated to use since the user must lift the cover to load or remove a disk. However, cover-lifting disk drives have the highest compatibility with a wide variety of optical disks that have different and irregular external shapes. In other words, cover-lifting disk drives can load an optical disk having almost any shape.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the conventional standard 8-cm and 12-cm optical disks 10a and 11a, respectively, can be loaded into and ejected from virtually all general optical disk reading devices. However, the conventional but irregular name card-shaped optical disk 12a (see FIG. 3) and Christmas tree-shaped optical disk 13a (see FIG. 4) can only be loaded into and ejected from cover-lifting type optical disk reading devices, and are typically loaded manually.
Thus, there remains a need for an optical disk reading device that allows for convenient and effective loading and removal of optical disks that have virtually any external shape.